Delaying retirement due to $265,000

[bjcheung77]

Ouch, this dad is in the hot spot or hot seat for this one... I feel for him but also feel it's partly their fault as the two kids could have gone to a community college first and then laddered up to the current university, or gone through alternative methods for the first two years, etc...  but then again, this was in the mid 2000's, ACE options weren't as plentiful and the only option was AP/CLEP...

Link: https://www.businessinsider.com/parents-...ans-2021-9

[ss20ts]

I attended community college and graduated with honors. Know what that got me at a state university? I transferred in as a first semester sophomore. Most of my classes didn't actually transfer. Sure I was guaranteed admission into the university but not my degree program or class standing. Community college does not translate to 2 years out of 4 done at many schools unfortunately. Many schools don't accept ACE so it wouldn't have mattered if it was plentiful in the 2000's.

[LevelUP]

Ouch, this dad is in the hot spot or hot seat for this one... I feel for him but also feel it's partly their fault as the two kids could have gone to a community college first and then laddered up to the current university, or gone through alternative methods for the first two years, etc...  but then again, this was in the mid 2000's, ACE options weren't as plentiful and the only option was AP/CLEP...

Link: https://www.businessinsider.com/parents-...ans-2021-9

I bet these selfish kids went to out-of-state college or/and got their master's degree leaving poor dad with a mountain of debt.  They should ban PLUS loans, let kids pay for all of college.  Increase the amount kids can borrow slightly to compensate for the loss of PLUS loans. 

He'll still be able to retire under social security.  They'll take around 15% of his benefits towards the debt each month. 

Kids nowadays should be able to get 30cr worth AP/CLEP credit and just tough it out and spend 1 year at a community college that has a transfer agreement with a large in-state university.  That seems like the most efficient way to attend a brick-and-mortar school.

[Johann]

(1) Maybe his kids can help Dad out? It must have been hell to juggle all this and help his wife (their mother) through her (undoubtedly very costly) illness. No, they
can't / won't? Uh ... what can I say?

(2) A man with Mr. Pemberton's smarts, was obviously able to read documents. He didn't. This is what can happen.

(3) And as LevelUp wrote- the worst that can happen is the bottom-feeders get 15% of his social security. So why does he have to work into his 80s?

I DO feel angry at the systems that did this to him. I don't think a student loan fiasco of anywhere near this magnitude could happen here. (Canada) Plus, I'm 78 - I've had a cancer op. and a heart op. - triple bypass. Luckily for me, both very successful. Total cost of both to me, personally - ZERO. I'm sure Mr. Pemberton would be in better shape, if he'd had that kind of benefit to cover his wife's illness. My take: he SHOULD have it - and so should all other Americans. America is, I'm told, the only developed country without universal health care.

This is indeed a sad commentary:

(a) On the difficulties faced by a man who didn't read the fine print and
(b) Two systems - health and education financing - that leave me shaking my head.

[dfrecore]

Sorry not sorry. $25k per SEMESTER for school in 2005? That's just crazy.

WHen someone says "I'll do WHATEVER IT TAKES to get my kids through college", what some really mean is "I'll just take out a bunch of loans and hope it all doesn't catch up to me later." I have been able to pay my way through college since I was 19. Sometimes I had tuition reimbursement, but most of the time I did not. Sometimes I went to the local CC because it was the cheapest option.

My children already know, we will help them in any way we can for college, but they're going to have to help, and prove themselves along the way. CC first, if grades are good, then a local 4yr school. If you want to go away to school, then you're going to have to work now and save up to pay for it, and work through college.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with working part time through college, but for some reason, people feel like they need to provide this awesome college "experience" for their kids at any cost. This is simply not true, and most parents did not feel this way 20 or 30 years ago - it's a new phenomenon. I do not get it at all.